AI Engineer / LLM Engineer

Location: Rotterdam / hybridHours: 40 hours per week, in consultationSalary: €4,500 – €7,500 gross per month based on 40 hoursImportant: This role is open to English-speaking candidates, but you must already live in the Netherlands and have the right to work here. We do not offer visa sponsorship.About What’s Next AIWhat’s Next AI is an AI consultancy based in Rotterdam. We build practical AI solutions for companies: LLM integrations, RAG systems, AI workflows, document intelligence solutions and automation platforms.Our goal is simple: to build working software that makes processes smarter.We are a growing team and part of a larger group, but we operate independently. Short lines of communication, a lot of ownership and no meeting culture. We mainly build in Python and use AI every day in our own work.The roleWe are looking for an AI Engineer / LLM Engineer who can build AI solutions that go beyond a demo.You will work on production-ready applications where LLMs, RAG, API integrations, documents, databases and business processes come together. Think of systems that make company documentation searchable, process emails and documents, generate draft responses, support internal workflows or help employees make better decisions faster.You are not a prompt engineer who only works with ChatGPT. You are also not a traditional backend developer who happens to call an LLM API. You sit in between: you understand software development, LLMs, context, retrieval, structured output, security and the practical limitations of AI systems in production.We do not believe that every problem should be solved with a fully autonomous agent. Often the real value is in controlled workflows, clear steps, good data, human-in-the-loop processes and LLMs where language understanding or context truly adds value.In short: you build AI applications that do not just sound impressive, but work reliably.What you will doBuild AI applications with PythonDevelop LLM integrations, RAG systems and AI workflowsConnect AI systems to APIs, databases, documents, email, CRMs or other business applicationsDesign and implement document processing, retrieval, embeddings, chunking and metadata structuresWork with structured outputs, function calling, tool calling and controlled workflow stepsBuild human-in-the-loop processes in which AI supports users without acting blindly or fully autonomouslyThink along about architecture, security, scalability, error handling and maintainabilityTest and evaluate AI output for quality, reliability and usabilityDebug AI systems that do not behave the way they shouldWork with project leads, consultants and other engineers to translate client questions into working solutionsExamples of projectsProjects may include an AI platform where LLMs are part of a larger system, RAG systems on top of SharePoint or company documentation, workflow automation around email and documents, AI assistants for internal teams, and document extraction from PDFs and Excel files.Who you areYou are an engineer who likes to build, investigate and get things working.You do not need to have done everything already, but you have demonstrable experience with software development and you have worked seriously with LLMs or AI applications. You understand that a good AI solution is more than a prompt. You think about context, data, retrieval, reliability, privacy, evaluation and real-world usage.You are pragmatic. You would rather choose a simple solution that works than a complex solution that mainly sounds impressive. If a deterministic workflow is better than an agent, you build a workflow. If an LLM adds value, you use it deliberately.We work in a small team, so ownership is important. You get a lot of freedom, but also responsibility. If something breaks, you find out why. If something can be better, you suggest it. If something is not feasible, you say so.What we are looking forExperience as a software developer, backend developer, AI engineer or similar technical roleStrong experience with Python and bringing applications to productionExperience with LLMs and modern AI applicationsUnderstanding of RAG, embeddings, vector databases, chunking and retrievalExperience with APIs, databases and backend developmentAbility to test, evaluate and improve AI outputUnderstanding of security, privacy and data handlingAbility to work with technical uncertainty and quickly move towards a practical MVPAbility to work with consultants, project leads and other developersGood English; Dutch is a plusHBO/WO level of work and thinkingNice to haveExperience with;frameworks and tools such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, DSPy or similarvector databases such as Qdrant, Weaviate, Pinecone, pgvector or ChromaFastAPI, Docker, PostgreSQL, Supabase or cloud platformstool calling, function calling, MCP or agent frameworksdocument parsing, OCR, PDF extraction or multimodal AIAzure OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini or open-source modelsobservability, logging or evaluation of LLM systemsGDPR, AI governance or working with sensitive business datafrontend or full-stack developmentWhat we offer€4,500 – €7,500 gross per month, plus 8% holiday allowanceHybrid working from Rotterdam or LelystadA team that does not just sell AI, but builds and uses it every dayA lot of independence and room to make technical decisionsA laptop for your workShort lines of communication, little unnecessary internal alignment and no meeting cultureWork on real client problems with modern AI technologyBudget for professional developmentTravel expense reimbursement and compensation for business travelThe opportunity to grow with the teamDo you recognize yourself?Send an email to hr@whatsnext.cc with your CV and a short explanation of why this role fits you.Please also include examples of AI applications, workflows, agents or other relevant systems you have built or contributed to.We recruit directly. Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.